


grass is greener

by spoopdeedoop



Category: In the Heights - Miranda/Hudes
Genre: M/M, first time writing these two!, hhhhh, i hope it's okay tho lmao, oh god this took so long, sort of rushed??? i guess???, they might be jus a teensy bit ooc but who cares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:14:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26676487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spoopdeedoop/pseuds/spoopdeedoop
Summary: “I just.” Benny seizes Usnavi’s wrist and oh. Okay. That’s fine. “Look.” He squats down, pulling Usnavi down with him. “There.”“What??”“Baby tree!”(or: benny and usnavi find a small tree sapling.)
Relationships: Benny/Usnavi (In the Heights)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	grass is greener

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yo_let_me_get_a_milkyway](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yo_let_me_get_a_milkyway/gifts).



> this is for ari, who was feeling bad. hope you feel better now hhsdfrtghjt ❤️
> 
> my first attempt at writing bensnavi. hope i captured their personalities aight lol
> 
> this was sort of rushed because i have a limited time for when i can actually use the internet but it's out and it's here and i'm very proud of it

They’re seven years old and stupid, running through the fields. 

It’s their first time in this particular park and it’s not as bright and colourful as their teachers had led them to believe, but Benny doesn’t seem to care, and Usnavi is under some sort of oath that coerces him to agree with whatever Benny feels. Also, there’s enough space here to fit around two (Maybe three? Usnavi is okay with numbers but was never that great with measuring area) duplicates of his parents’ bodega in it, which isn’t much of an achievement, but Usnavi is sort of in awe of that.

They’re here under the excuse of a school excursion, but none of the kids are doing what the teacher requests, so it’s pretty much just a visit to the park at this point.

Benny rushes toward a large tree despite their teacher’s instructions to stay close and slams his hands down on it. “Dang.”

  
Usnavi follows him because he’s taken up an unofficial position as Benny’s “stop him from doing stupid stuff” friend. “Mr. Hernandez said to stay with the group,” he says.

“Mm.” 

Benny doesn’t make any move to comply, so Usnavi just stands there with his hands on his hips as Benny stares up a tree like a dog watching a ball fly through the air. Usnavi doesn’t know what makes this tree any more compelling than the others. There are other trees that look exactly the same. Other trees  _ closer to where they were supposed to be.  _

“There’s a bird nest up there.”

“Hm?”

“‘Navi.” Benny turns to him with wide, bright eyes, which is strangely endearing, and Usnavi can’t quite put his finger on why. “There’s a  _ bird nest.”  _

__ “Where?” Usnavi inches closer to where Benny’s standing. He swears he hears their teacher call to them, but Benny looks so damned excited and Usnavi just can’t resist. 

“There.” Benny stretches an arm. “That dark patch in the leaves, can you see it?”

  
Usnavi squints upwards. “Yeah. So?”

“I dunno. I just thought it was cool. I wonder if we’ll be able to see when the eggs hatch.”

“There are eggs?”

“Of  _ course  _ there are eggs.”

“Uh-huh,” Usnavi says slowly.

Another warning call from the teacher. 

“Benny, we should go.”

“Yeah,” Benny says, but stays still, his eyes sweeping the vicinity.

_ “Benny,”  _ Usnavi says, more urgently. He was getting impatient, and he didn’t want his parents to get a note from the school. Oh God, was there a  _ worse thing? _

__ “I just.” Benny seizes Usnavi’s wrist and oh. Okay. That’s fine. “Look.” He squats down, pulling Usnavi down with him. “There.”

_ “What??” _

__ “Baby tree!”

Usnavi shakes his head with a grin. Behind the tree, shielded by a mass of ferns, is a small tree sapling. Usnavi tries to analyze it, the way he saw those explorers on TV do, but he doesn’t have the slightest clue how to distinguish a tree species from another, so he gives up.

“It’s cute,” says Benny.

“How can a tree be cute?”

“Admit it.” Benny pokes at Usnavi’s cheek. “You think it’s cute.”

“...It’s  _ kinda  _ cute.” 

Mr. Hernandez calls for them again, his voice laced with a finality that makes Usnavi shudder. “C’mon. Let’s go.”

Benny pouts, and Usnavi rolls his eyes at him, ignoring the odd warmth that sparks in his chest. “It’ll still be here when we come back next time! Come  _ on.” _

“You think there’ll be a next time?”

“Heck yeah. This place isn’t  _ that _ far from the bodega. We can come back, but I’ll have to ask Mom. But she’ll say yes. So.”

_ “Sweet.”  _ Benny grins, then straightens up. “Okay.”

And then they leave the tree to face the wrath of their geography teacher. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


They’re fourteen now, and Usnavi sits beneath the big tree with his face buried in his knees. There’s a light downpour gently pattering down on his back, but he honestly couldn’t care less if he got wet. 

He’s been staring at the smaller tree for almost fifteen minutes now. It’s grown a bit since the last time they’d visited the park; now it’s almost as tall as he is. He’d done a little research and apparently it’s an oak sapling, which made him think of the Pokemon professor, so he’d been calling the tree Professor Oak in his head, which usually made him laugh a little.

Now, though.

Now he feels like doing anything but laughing.

“Navi?”

He turns around, swiping furiously at his eyes. He knows who’s behind him and he knows every time he cries will be a coin added to Benny’s psychological Things To Blackmail Usnavi With jar. 

From the look on Benny’s face, though, it appears he’ll be able to make an exception for today. 

“Navi,” Benny says again. His hair is wet and he keeps blinking. Usnavi doesn’t know whether he’s trying to rid his eyes of the rain or whether he’s actually crying.

“They’re gone.” Usnavi’s voice wobbles. “They’re gone.”

“I know.” Benny sits down beside him and raises an arm. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m never gon’ see them again.”

“They were good people. I’m so sorry.”

Usnavi buries his face in the space Benny has made between his arm and his chest and tries not to cry, but the tears come out anyway. He feels a hand on his back run up and down his spine and another hand tracing reassuring circles into his shoulder and a chin rest against the top of his head. 

“Hey.” Benny shifts Usnavi in his arms gently. “Baby Tree’s still here.”

Usnavi sniffs, smiling wetly at the small tree fighting its way through the damp soil.. “Yeah. He’s strong.”

The taller male glances down at him. “You are too, you know.”

At this point in time, Benny has had two girlfriends and was the one to initiate the breakup with both of them. He hasn’t shown a romantic attraction toward any males in particular so far, but Usnavi remembered very vividly a statement Benny had made a while ago when he’d subtly said that he wouldn’t mind being with a guy. 

So.

He could.

Couldn’t he?

Usnavi straightens up and studies Benny’s face for a moment.

Then their lips are together.

Benny lets out a faint “oh”, sending a thrill down Usnavi’s spine, but there are no sparks, no fireworks, nothing Usnavi could use to wash the pain away. 

After a few moments, Benny gently takes Usnavi’s shoulders and pushes him away, letting out a small sigh. “Don’t… don’t do that.”

“Why not?”   
  


“Not like this. You’re in a bad place.”

Usnavi blinks up at him, his brow furrowed in realisation, but Benny doesn’t look disgusted or vexed. He looks genuinely worried. 

“Shit.” Usnavi drops his head onto Benny’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I fucked up.”

“Nah, dude, it’s okay. Grief makes you do stupid shit.” Benny pats the back of Usnavi’s neck awkwardly. “It’s not like I don’t want to kiss you, just. Not now.”

Usnavi is too tired to process the fact that Benny literally asked to kiss him sometime after today. He just melts into Benny’s touch, allowing him to hold him, to ground him. 

“You can cry if you need to.”

“No, it’s okay, I’ll - I’ll be fine.”

A brief silence, then Benny asks: “Where’s Sonny?”

“At home.”

“Anyone with him?”

“No.” Usnavi is suddenly aware of the fact that his cousin is alone and scared, left in the aftermath of his guardians’ death with no one to console him. “Fuck.”

“Navi!”

_ “Fuck.”  _ Usnavi breaks away from Benny. “I’m an idiot. Yeah. Let’s go.”

And they leave, battling the rain and broken hearts.

  
  
  
  


  
  


Usnavi is eighteen and very displeased at the scene before him.

No joke. No exaggerating. He’s been standing here with his hands on his hips for almost three minutes now, trying to process just what the fuck has happened here, staring pointedly at the space where the tree used to be.

Not  _ their  _ tree; not the small one. The other one. Benny had been referring to it as the Papa Tree. That one.

It’s been cut down.

Which is beyond the meaning of the universe, because that tree has been standing for as long as Usnavi has known himself to exist. But here is the truth, etched blatantly into the tree stump that has been left behind.

Benny is just as dumbstruck as he is. “Whuh” is all the speech he can muster.

“Wow,” Usnavi agrees. “Well. That’s just wack, isn’t it?”

The other nods his head slowly. “Well,” he echoes, then he glances up. “At least Baby Tree is still here.”

They’d discussed the name for this tree, as bizarre as that sounds. Usnavi wanted to stick with Prof. Oak, but Benny referred to the plant more, so now it was Baby Tree, which Usnavi found hilarious because the oak was now about three feet taller than both of them (well. Three feet taller than Benny; about three and a half taller than Usnavi), its branches spreading outward, dominating most of the plants in its surroundings. 

“Yeah. At least.”

“Mm.” Benny wraps his arm around Usnavi’s midriff. “Yo, Navi, we should get back to the others, they’re judging us for staring at a dead tree stump.” He prods the smaller male’s cheek. “Will you be okay?”   
  


“What? Oh. Oh, yeah, it’s just a tree, I’ll be fine.” Usnavi had unwittingly acquired a dumb tendency to cry over small things in the past, which is idiotic as it is, so he won’t let himself cry over a stupid  _ tree being cut down.  _

Benny can sense the tension in his shoulders, though. He’s an expert when it comes to knowing when Usnavi feels melancholic, and Usnavi both loves him and hates him for it. 

“You don’t have to be fine, you know,” he says slowly. 

“I know, I-” Usnavi shakes his head. “It’s just a tree,” he repeats flatly. 

Benny’s brow furrows. 

“Okay,” he says finally. 

“Yeah.” Usnavi takes Benny’s hand. “It’s okay. Come on, Vanessa’s doing that face and it’s freaking me out.” 

“Oh geez, yeah.” 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Age twenty-four and scared out of his mind. A pretty accurate summary of Usnavi at the moment.

He’s on the path to the park, walking briskly and fidgeting with the bodega keys in his hands. He’d received a very ominous message from Benny requesting to meet at the park, which was odd enough because Benny never  _ asks  _ if they can meet there (they usually either bump into each other there or just walk there without coherent thinking), but also, Benny  _ never  _ texts Usnavi. They can afford to meet each other and talk in person whenever necessary, so. This is beyond weird. 

Usnavi turns the corner and sees Benny lying beneath Baby Tree, of whom was basically as tall as most of the trees in the park. He nears so he can see the dappled sunlight light up Benny’s face, and holy shit, his boyfriend is beautiful. 

“Hi,” Usnavi squeaks past the lump in his throat. Benny opens his eyes and grins up at him. 

“Hello, beautiful.” Benny reaches up and kisses him softly. “Sit with me.”

Usnavi is going to spontaneously combust. Why does Benny still make him feel like this? “O-Okay.”

He perches awkwardly beside his boyfriend and squints up at the light filtering through the leaves. 

“This tree has grown.”

“It has.” Benny leans up to pat the tree’s stump. “You done good, Baby Tree.”

Usnavi snorts.

They sit there for a bit, just enjoying the peace of the park and each other’s company. Benny stretches his hand upwards expectantly and Usnavi takes it between his own almost subconsciously. 

“What if I asked you a stupid question?” Benny asks suddenly.

Usnavi breathes a laugh. “You say that as if they’re scarce when you’re around,” he snarks, which earns him an elbow in the ribs.

“No, but. Seriously.” The taller males takes him by the arms and pulls both of them up to stand. “I have. A very stupid question. For you.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah. Um.” Benny’s smile turns into a sheepish grin as he lowers himself down, and Usnavi claps his hands to his mouth with a loud “YO”.

“Usnavi De La Vega.” Benny takes special care and consideration over Usnavi’s name as he brings out the ring. “Will you let me annoy you with stupid questions for the rest of your life?”

Usnavi is  _ very close  _ to full on screaming. His insides are writhing, and his mouth hurts from grinning too much. 

“I WAS GOING TO ASK YOU,” Usnavi yells. “I SWEAR. YOU BEAT ME TO IT.”

Benny laughs, and it’s contagious.

“But yes,” Usnavi says as they pull themselves together. “Yes. Always yes. Holy shit. Yes.”

“Oh thank God.” Benny’s grin is almost as wide as Usnavi’s. “I got scared for a sec there.”

“Fuckin’ idiot, why would I say no?” Usnavi takes his  fiancé’s stupid, beautiful face in his hands and kisses him with everything he has. “I love your stupid ass.”

“Ha. Love you too.” Benny hugs him and presses a kiss into his hair. “Also.” The taller male says, once they’ve pulled apart, grinning giddily at each other. “I saw a bird nest up there.”

“No way.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
